Hot water storage tanks are used to provide and circulate hot water throughout a plumbing system. Existing hot water storage tanks normally comprise an insulated storage vessel and a heating source. There are many designs for tanks that heat up, store and then deliver hot water to a standard outlet, such as a faucet.
The most common tank design for a domestic hot water tank is one that is made of mild steel lined with ceramic or glass. Other existing tanks are made from Inox or 316 grade stainless steel, fiberglass, various plastics or rubber materials.
Hot water storage tanks may be categorized into pressurized tanks or non-pressurized (atmospheric) tanks. A pressurized tank operates under pressure, with the tank always being full of water. A pressure relief valve and sometimes also an expansion tank are used to keep the pressure within the tank at a safe level for use.
Non-pressurized tanks, in contrast to pressurized tanks, are normally open to the atmosphere and can “breathe” as the water within the tank expands and contracts. The top of the tank for a non-pressurized tank will normally have an air pocket.
Non-pressurized tanks suffer from various deficiencies, as these tanks are often inefficient and substantial amounts of heat and energy as they are open to the atmosphere and not sealed. Furthermore, non-pressurized tanks may suffer from dirt and other external elements entering the tank, as non-pressurized tanks are open and may be not fully sealed to external elements.
It is thus desirable to provide a non-pressurized tank that has minimal loss of energy to the atmosphere. It is further desirable for a non-pressurized tank to be sealed, such that external elements will not enter and contaminate the fluid within the non-pressurized tank.
In the existing art, tanks have been designed to allow for various systems to heat the fluid located within the tank. Existing tanks may heat the fluid via a boiler circuit, a solar circuit, electricity, gas, a heat pump, or other such heating technique. Solar heating has become an important technique, as using solar heating, allows for a relatively less expensive way to heat hot water.
Various existing systems provide for teaching solar heating of water in a thermal storage tank. U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,276 (Fossum et al.) discloses a solar thermal water heating system that sends the water to a solar circuit; U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,918 (Roehl) discloses a hot water storage tank used for storage collectors; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,922 (Roussos et al.) discloses the concept of thermal stratification in a hot water tank.
However, none of these existing systems provide for a hot water storage tank that involves a single multipurpose tank design that incorporates multiple ways to heat the water within the tank. Furthermore, none of these existing designs involves a multipurpose tank that has multiple kits that may be quickly mounted and connected to the tank.
It is thus desirable to provide for a single multipurpose tank design that may incorporate the ability to provide hot water, space heating, pool heating and accept multiple energy sources such as gas, electric, heat pump, solid fuel boiler and solar thermal. It is desirable to provide a multipurpose tank that has the capability of allowing multiple kits to be quickly mounted and connected to the tank.
It is further desirable to make the integration of multiple uses and varied energy sources simple and cost effective. It is further desirable to provide a non-pressurized tank that overcomes the deficiencies of existing systems.